1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera having video file creating function.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a widespread use of a digital camera in recent years, a still image file is easily creatable. Such a still image file can be reproduced and displayed on a computer by using a viewer program. Also, video-software-dedicated reproduction devices such as a DVD player have recently come into wide use at home, so that the a large number of people can enjoy video software easily on a television at home.
However, such video reproduction devices specialize in a video software reproduction, and many of them do not have a function of reproducing a still image file. For this reason, it has been difficult to easily reproduce a still image file created in the digital camera and view the still image on the home television.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-300445 discloses a digital camera in which a video shooting operation and a still image shooting operation can be easily switched over. That is, the digital camera disclosed therein starts shooting the video upon half press to a release button. The digital camera stops shooting the video in response to a release from the half press of the release button and then stores a video file in a recording medium. On the other hand, upon a change from the half pressing to a full pressing, the digital camera stops shooting the video and simultaneously starts shooting the still image. At this time, in the digital camera, both of a video file and a still image file are created and stored in the recording medium. A link file between both the files is also stored in the recording medium. The digital camera disclosed in the document analyzes data of the link file by using a dedicated reproduction device, and reproduce related video and still image files sequentially. However, a general-purpose reproduction device does not have a function of analyzing the data of the link file disclosed in the document. Therefore, the still image files created by the digital camera disclosed in the document cannot be reproduced by the widespread household video reproduction device.
Further, the digital camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-300445 has operational problems. In general, before starting shooting the still image, a user often presses the release button halfway several times repeatedly for composition adjustment or focus adjustment. Upon every half press operation, the video file is stored in the digital camera. In other words, many unwanted video files for the user may be stored therein. In addition, if the release button is fully pressed at once, a momentary half press state may occur, which may cause generation and storage of very short, useless video files. Further, the user tends to pan a camera for the composition adjustment while halfway pressing the release button. During the panning, the screen moves largely, so that the screen blurs a lot. This may cause storage of undesirable video files.
Furthermore, there is a known technique for reproducing a video file shot in a vertical position disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-248171. According to this document, at the video reproduction, the video is rotated to the vertical position for display. As described therein, a conventional digital camera records the video which is shot in the vertical position without rotating the image.